Sani Haruna Kaita (born 2 May 1986) is a Nigerian former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
who played as a
defensive midfielder.
Club career
Kaita was born in
Kano, Nigeria. He joined
Sparta Rotterdam
Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands.
Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...
in the 2005–06 season from
Kano Pillars FC. Kaita moved to
AS Monaco FC in September 2008.
Kaita left Monaco on 13 January 2009 and joined
FC Kuban Krasnodar on loan through 31 December 2009. On 25 August 2009,
Lokomotiv Moscow signed the Nigerian midfielder on loan from Monaco until December. On 25 February 2010
Alania Vladikavkaz
FC Alania Vladikavkaz (russian: "Алания" (Владикавказ), os, Футболон клуб "Алани" (Дзæуджыхъæу)) is a Russian football team from Vladikavkaz. Founded in 1921, the club played in the Soviet Top League ...
signed the midfielder on loan. On 31 May 2010
FC Metalist Kharkiv
Football Club Metalist Kharkiv ( uk, Футбо́льний Клуб Металі́ст Ха́рків ) is a Ukrainian football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2021–22 season. It was revived 5 years ...
signed Kaita on loan. On the last day of the 2011 winter transfer window, Kaita moved to
Greek Superleague side
Iraklis
Gymnasticos Syllogos Iraklis ( el, Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Ηρακλής, en, Gymnastics Club Heracles), commonly referred to as Iraklis, is a Greek multi-sports club based in Thessaloniki. The club was founded in 1908 as "Mace ...
on a six-month loan deal.
In April 2014, Kaita was back in Nigeria training with
Enyimba F.C.
Enyimba Football Club or simply known as Enyimba, is a Nigerian football club based in the city of Aba which plays in the Nigerian Professional Football League. Their name means ''People's Elephant'' in Igbo language and is also the nickname u ...
He made his debut against Sharks F.C. on 7 May and spent a three-month loan with the Aba side. The loan was part of the
League Management Company
The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) is the highest level of the Nigerian football league system, for the Nigerian club-football championships.
The Nigerian league has suffered, like many others, from the financial impact and dwindl ...
's elite initiative for foreign based professionals. He signed for
Ifeanyi Ubah in the Nigeria premier league for the season 2015, but played only few matches for the team.
In 2016, he joined a Finnish club,
JS Hercules
JS Hercules is an association football club established in Oulu, Finland, in 1998. The team started at the lowest level of the Finnish league system and was playing in the Third Division until promoted to Finnish Second Division, Kakkonen, for ...
, which was coached by his former national team coach
Daniel Amokachi
Daniel Owefin Amokachi (born 30 December 1972) is a Nigerian football manager and former professional footballer and a member of the dubious goals panel for the Premier League.
As a player he was a forward who notably played in the Premier Lea ...
.
For the 2017 season, Kaita signed for
Veikkausliiga team
RoPS. He made his debut for the team on 28 January 2017 in a
Suomen Cup
The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955.
The winner qualifies for the ...
3–0 win against
HauPa
Haukiputaan Pallo ry (abbreviated HauPa) is a football club from Haukipudas, Oulu, Finland. The club was formed in 1993 and their home ground is at the Haukiputaan keskuskenttä. The men's first team got promoted after 2010 season and currently ...
. He scored his first goal on 22 April against
Ilves Tampere
Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena.
The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the cit ...
in the 79th minute, after being brought in three minutes earlier for injured team captain
Antti Okkonen
Antti Okkonen (born 6 June 1982) is a former footballer who played in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium. In addition, he represented the national team. He was a defensive midfielder.
Career
Okkonen started youth career in Oulun Luistinseura. ...
. At the end of the year he was released after featuring sporadically in the second half of the season. After the season, his signing was publicly called a poor bargain by club president Risto Niva.
International career
Kaita caught the eye of Sparta when playing all seven matches for Nigeria U-20 at the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands.
He was also a member of the senior
Nigeria national team making his debut in a 3–0 friendly loss against Romania in November 2005. Kaita was sent off in a match against
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
on 17 June 2010, in their second
2010 FIFA World Cup
, image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg
, size = 200px
, caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
match for kicking
Vasilis Torosidis
Vasilis Torosidis (Greek: Βασίλης Τοροσίδης, born 10 June 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a right-back.
Club career
Skoda Xanthi
Torosidis made his senior debut for Skoda Xanthi on 19 April 2003 at ...
. This made him the first Nigerian player to be sent off in a World Cup match. Greece went on to score their first World Cup goals, and win their first match in the World Cup.
Honours
Nigeria
*
African Cup of Nations
The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...
: bronze medalist
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
,
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
*
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
: runner-up
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Nigeria U20
*
FIFA U-20 World Cup: runner-up
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
External links
*
Player profile– Sparta Rotterdam
– Voetbal International
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaita, Sani
1986 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Kano
Association football midfielders
Nigerian footballers
Kano Pillars F.C. players
Sparta Rotterdam players
AS Monaco FC players
FC Kuban Krasnodar players
FC Lokomotiv Moscow players
FC Spartak Vladikavkaz players
SC Tavriya Simferopol players
FC Metalist Kharkiv players
Iraklis Thessaloniki F.C. players
Eredivisie players
Ligue 1 players
Super League Greece players
Cypriot First Division players
Veikkausliiga players
Nigeria international footballers
Nigeria under-20 international footballers
Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic footballers of Nigeria
Olympic silver medalists for Nigeria
2006 Africa Cup of Nations players
2010 Africa Cup of Nations players
Nigerian expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands
Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands
Expatriate footballers in Monaco
Expatriate footballers in France
Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in France
Expatriate footballers in Russia
Expatriate footballers in Ukraine
Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine
Expatriate footballers in Greece
Enyimba F.C. players
Russian Premier League players
2010 FIFA World Cup players
Olympic medalists in football
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco
Expatriate footballers in Finland
Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Finland
Ukrainian Premier League players
Moldovan Super Liga players
JS Hercules players